


Friends

by malinaldarose (coralysendria)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 07:46:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralysendria/pseuds/malinaldarose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hello," the Moment said.</p>
<p>"Hello," the TARDIS responded warily.</p>
<p>Spoilers for "The Day of the Doctor."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This fills the Unexpected Friendship square on my Trope Bingo Round 3 card.

The madman with the box did not remember/had not remembered/might now remember that he had twice carried another box into the TARDIS. The first time he carried it through her doors, he carried it out not intending to ever see the old girl again. The second time, he carried it back in and set it aside to deal with later, as there were more pressing matters to take care of just then. Since he could not return it to the Omega Arsenal from which he had stolen it, he had vague thoughts of chucking it into a sun -- though that was probably a bad idea -- but first, he had to help conceal Gallifrey.

It was while he was drinking tea with his other selves in a secret art gallery that held the painting _Gallifrey Falls_ (or possibly _No More_ ), that the two entities, Moment and TARDIS, came face-to-face in the latter's console room. Well, not the console room, not exactly. They weren't meeting in physical space, after all.

"Hello," the Moment said.

"Hello," the TARDIS responded warily.

She existed through all of time and space; she knew what the Moment was/had been/would be; she could see/had seen the woman whose appearance the Moment wore. She, herself, wore the face of the woman Idris whose body she had been downloaded into by the malevolent House. After the download occurred in subjective time, it rippled through her being and became the way she always had seen/saw/would see herself. The Moment was also Time Lord technology; she could _also_ see all of time and space; it was how she'd helped the Doctor _not_ become the thing he would have abhorred/had abhorred/would abhor. 

The TARDIS made an adjustment to their shared space, and the Moment, dressed as Bad Wolf, and Sexy, dressed as Idris, found themselves in a comfortable sitting room, complete with wing chairs, patterned carpets, and soft light streaming past heavy curtains. A low table held a tray of tea things between them. Sexy picked up the fat, chintz-patterned teapot and poured for them both. "Sugar?"

"Please," the Moment said with an appreciative grin. Silver tongs dropped a sugar cube into the tea. Sexy silently offered milk, but the Moment declined with a shake of her head. She accepted the flowered cup and saucer and sipped. "Very nice."

"Thank you." Sexy sipped from her own cup. It was not a thing she had ever understood, but so many of the strays that her thief had brought into her corridors had found the beverage soothing, including the one whose face the Moment now wore. Offering it seemed correct.

"He's not going to remember this, you know," the Moment said, after a bit. "We're going to be stuck together for a long time. He's going to think he detonated me, that he destroyed them. He's not going to remember that he brought me here. He may not even remember it when his past catches up with his present."

" _She_ might," Sexy said.

"His companion? The Impossible Girl?" Her voice hissed on the sibilants. The Moment tilted her head, considering. Her primary concern had been the Warrior, but she had observed everything connected with him. "Yes. She might. If she does, I wonder what path she will choose? To let him know, or to leave me hidden?"

"You cannot see?" Sexy raised an eyebrow.

The Moment shrugged. "Paths diverge. You know that."

"Given what she has already done," Sexy said, after a moment of consideration of her own, "I believe she will do whatever she thinks is best for the Doctor."

The Moment nodded. "Yes, I can see that. I watched her. I think it is ultimately because of her presence that they changed their mind. I could show them what would happen, but in the end, it was she who said the necessary words."

"She knows him very well," Sexy said. The Impossible Girl knew her Doctor better than anyone -- even the Child -- though Sexy still had known/knew/would know him better. Sexy had been jealous at first, but she could not continue to dislike Clara after the girl threw herself into the Doctor's timestream at Trenzalore. She sipped her tea; the action _was_ calming. How very strange. 

"We should probably hide me, then," the Moment said, "so that if Clara chooses to remind him of my presence, they won't be able to find me."

Sexy looked upward and, for a brief moment, her eyes turned golden. "Done. Your container is no longer in the console room. I've put it in the Cloister for now, but it sticks out there."

The Moment cocked her head, listening. "It's starting. He's regenerating. I can control my appearance," she offered. "You just move me every so often, and I'll blend in wherever you put me."

Sexy nodded. "What do they say? It's a deal?" She, too, listened to what was happening/had happened/would happen in the console room. "His memory is going." Her Doctor had crossed his own lives so many times; it always made her sad when he forgot. She watched the Moment's borrowed face. "You were alone in the Omega Arsenal for ages. Do you...do you get lonely? Gallifrey has been gone, and my sisters no longer sing to me. Sometimes -- since I will have worn this body -- I get lonely, especially when he's off running with his strays. Would you talk to me, sometimes? I rather like talking."

The Moment grinned, bright and cheerful, her tongue caught in her teeth. "I'd like that, I think." She nodded firmly. "Yes. Yes, we should talk. I rather like talking, too."

They both sipped their tea, and smiled.

~*~*~

The madman with the box did not remember/had not remembered/might now remember that deep in the heart of the box, hidden safely away, was another box. The Moment's Gallifreyan writing and clockwork mechanism -- a seeming only -- were hidden away in a deadlocked container that sometimes looked like a steamer trunk in the wardrobe, and sometimes looked like a bench in the Cloister, and sometimes looked like a history book in the library, and sometimes looked like a green Tupperware container at the back of the refrigerator.

It did not take long for the Moment and the TARDIS to reach an accord; in subjective time, it took no time at all. Even the Doctor would have been surprised at how quickly it happened, and how quickly they became friends.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This is a fan work. No infringement is intended and no profit will be had hereby.
> 
> 2\. This piece was inspired by "had we but world enough, and time" by paperclipbitch.
> 
> 3\. Of course the Doctor takes the Moment back aboard the TARDIS. What else is he going to do with it? He can't leave something like that lying around for someone to stumble over.
> 
> 4\. Some time back, I read a TARDIS-centric fic (which I was not able to find again) which handled verb tenses (which are difficult, aren't they?) something like this. It makes a story too hard to read, though, if done with every verb.
> 
> 5\. This piece is unbetaed.
> 
> 6\. There is no number 6.


End file.
